


7. Flowers and Rain

by chantiemaya



Series: Trixyawrimo 2018 [7]
Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Dating, F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Romance, trixya - Freeform, trixyawrimo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 07:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16551143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chantiemaya/pseuds/chantiemaya
Summary: Prompt #7: FLOWER SHOP





	7. Flowers and Rain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mazarin01](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mazarin01/gifts).



> This one almost didn't make it, because I couldn't come up with anything! Luckily a dear friend came up with a little more detailed prompt and this is what my brain produced. Just goes to show that talking about writing is very motivating, and throwing ideas around can give a writer just a little extra push. Hope you like it. XO

 

Fall in Boston is beautiful, but there can also be a lot of rain, which Trixie Mattel experiences for the third time in one week when she rushes home from the train on Friday evening. She’s in a bit of a hurry, and the rain is slowly starting to fall when she reaches her building.

She lives in the middle of the city, where public transport is good, and her apartment is right above a row of shops that are always open until well into the evening. It’s almost six as she rushes into the flower shop and comes to an instant halt once she’s inside.

The switch from the busy streets outside to the calm of the shop is almost shocking, and Trixie takes a moment to revel in it. It’s been a while since she was in here, although she passes it every day. The store always has beautiful arrangements on display and Trixie loves looking at them. Right now, everything is, of course, fall-themed, with different shades of yellow, orange, maroon and green on display. A petite girl with a wild mane of blonde curls stands on a ladder and leans over to a metal rod hanging from the high ceiling to attach a hanging basket.

“Be careful,” Trixie says when she approaches. The girl looks down and smiles, and Trixie’s mouth automatically also pulls into a smile. This girl has been working at the shop for a long time and Trixie has seen her around the building many times.

“Just a sec!” The girl hangs the basket and fumbles with the plant a little before climbing down.

“Hi, sorry about that. How can I help you?”

Now that she’s on the floor, she’s actually smaller than Trixie thought, and she has to look down a little. She tries to remember if they ever talked and if she also looked this beautiful then. Her hair is shoulder length, thick and messy and it frames her face very well. She’s fastened half of it on top of her head with little pins.

The girl moves the ladder out of the way and stares at Trixie expectantly, and Trixie feels embarrassed for staring at this girl’s pretty face for several silent seconds.

“Uhm, yes, maybe… I… I wanna bring flowers to someone, but I’m not sure what to pick.”

The flower girl starts walking toward a display of arrangements. She’s wearing dark blue jeans, comfortable boots and a warm, burnt orange colored sweater that compliments her blue eyes. Her lipstick is dark red, not unlike the maroon that’s heavily featured in the fall theme.

“What’s the occasion? Birthday?”

Trixie hesitates and stares at the girl again.

“New job? Pregnant? Just because?” The girl sums up all kinds of reasons to bring flowers, but none of them fit.

“It’s a date… I’m… we have a date.”

It’s now the flower girl who stares, and her bright, big smile fades.

“Oh. Right. Something romantic then.” She turns and walks to the other side of the store where the single flowers are displayed, then grabs a few branches with green leaves on them and looks around the display.

“Maybe something white and pink? She likes those colors. But not too big, maybe. It’s the first date.” As soon as she says all of that, Trixie cringes inwardly. It’s none of the girl’s business what Trixie’s up to, and it’s too much information, and she feels awkward about everything.

The girl nods and picks out some flowers. She adds small pale pink roses and something with a long row of small white flowers at the top, and one big pink peony in the middle. She shows Trixie, who nods, and the girl smiles. She adds some more green stuff and then deems it finished.

Trixie watches the girl expertly arrange the flowers and bind them with a rubber band, and then she wraps them in a pretty white paper, some bows, and an extra layer of plastic so the bouquet can withstand the weather. Trixie catches herself staring again, at how quickly and calmly the girl works, how her bright blue eyes asses her work and change some details now and then. How quickly her fingers move, and the maroon nail polish on her short nails. Her hands look a little weathered like they got dirty and dry during work, and Trixie thinks she should rub some rich lotion on them, like the coconut one she has upstairs in her apartment. Put a nice thick layer on her hands and let it sit for a while, that probably would do them a lot of good.

“How about that?” the girl asks when she’s done. Trixie is happy with the result and takes out her card to pay.

“You did that so fast, thank you very much.”

“Sure, anytime!”

“Maybe you can make one for me some time,” Trixie says, and the way the girl looks at her makes her feel warm.

“I’d love to. I’m usually here on the late shift until nine.” She hands Trixie her receipt and credit card with a little wink.

Back on the cold street, Trixie waves at the flower girl through the window. It’s still raining and the wind has picked up, and Trixie rushes down into the parking garage for her car. She only uses it when she needs to go out of the city, and Pearl lives in one of Boston’s many suburbs. She barely makes it in time, but Pearl doesn’t mind and coos over the flowers. Trixie wishes she knew the flower girl’s name.

As Pearl goes to the kitchen to get them something to drink, Trixie sits on the couch and uses the moment alone to look around. The whole apartment is pristine, mostly white with details in different shades of pink. There aren’t a lot of plants, just one big one in an otherwise empty corner of the room, and it’s probably fake.

“So, Violet told me you do window displays for the store?” Pearl comes back from the kitchen and brings a glass of wine for herself and some soda for Trixie, as well as a plate of small vegan appetizers that Pearl got from a well-known catering company in the area - although she calls it ‘traiteur’.

“Yeah, I come by once in a while and set up the window displays for all the chain stores in this area. So we go over the items she expects will be popular and we arrange them into complete outfits to make the display look good and hopefully bring in customers.” Trixie feels like she makes it sound more interesting than it really is, but she wants to impress Pearl.

Trixie works for a company that produces clothes for their chain stores, and Violet owns one of those stores. They have become good friends over the last couple of years. When Trixie sighed over one of the pretty models in the store’s last ad campaign, Violet said she actually knew the girl. They met at Violet’s Halloween party, where Pearl was dressed as a cosmetic surgery patient and Trixie as an eighties Barbie on skates. They got drunk, they might have kissed, and Pearl invited her to dinner.

While talking about Violet, work, and the clothes Trixie’s company sells, she regards the situation from a distance. Pearl is a model and DJ, she’s into a clean and neat aesthetic and her hobbies involve creating dance music, going clubbing and watching horror shows on Netflix.

Trixie’s place looks like an updated version of her grandma’s place; there are plants everywhere, furniture in wood tones with colorful blankets on them, and her hobbies involve playing country music on her guitar and reading thriller novels.

They don’t even like the same shows on Netflix, and out of nowhere, Trixie wonders what kind of shows the girl from the flower shop likes.

Pearl has ordered a lovely vegan pasta dish with vegetables Trixie has never heard of. She feels increasingly more out of place and the flower girl keeps popping up in her head. She was wearing a very comfortable looking sweater, and Trixie longs to wear a sweater like that instead of the neat pink blouse she put on because she knew Pearl would like it.

Trixie drops her spoon into the bowl of lavender ice cream when something dawns on her. The girl in the store was very enthusiastic when Trixie came in, very helpful, all smiles. When Trixie said she was going on a date, something shifted. She fell silent and wasn’t as engaged as before.

“I’m sorry,” Trixie says as she sets down her bowl and stands up from the couch. “I have to go.”

Pearl hastily gets up from the couch and follows Trixie has her cowboy boots stomp on the shiny white floor.

“Trixie? Are you ok?”

With her hand on the door handle, Trixie turns.

“This is very rude, and I’m sorry, but we’re not compatible. I have to be somewhere else before nine.”

Trixie gives Pearl a quick hug and rushes out. It’s raining a lot more now, and Trixie’s hair is already falling flat by the time she reaches her car. She takes off her wet jacket and throws it into the passenger seat, then starts the car and takes off way too fast.

Traffic is a mess, and nine o'clock when she reaches her street. There a little queue at the garage and Trixie has no patience for any of this. She has to drive around the whole block, because it’s all one-way, to park across the street from the shop. She pays the parking with her phone and looks at the storefront of the flower shop - the lights inside are switched off right at that moment, and Trixie stands in the pouring rain waiting to cross the street. The flower girl exits the store in a long, black coat, several bags on her arm and an umbrella in her other hand. She locks the front door in several places, fumbling with her keys and dropping them.

Trixie sees a gap in the traffic and quickly runs across, one car honking at her as she holds out her hand. The girl walks away from the shop with fast steps.

“Wait!” Trixie yells and takes off running, rain splashing all around her. Her fashionable but thin jacket is almost soaked through, as is the front of her blouse because she didn’t bother to close her jacket. Her hair's hanging down in sad, wet strings on the sides of her face, which is also getting wetter by the second. She probably looks like a drowned rat, but she doesn’t care.

The flower girl doesn’t stop walking but looks over her shoulder before turning a corner. Trixie reaches her just as she turns back around.

“Oh, hello!” The girl says, clearly taken aback.

“Hi, I’m sorry, I don’t know if you remember me, but-”

“I do,” she says, and her smile is a little shy, but it doesn’t make her any less cute.

“I made a mistake,” Trixie says. “I went on a date with this boring girl, but actually, I’ve been staring at you everytime I pass by the shop. I should’ve been on a date with you.”

Trixie’s breathing comes fast and she has to blink to get the ran away from her lashes. The flower girl stares at her, mouth open, eyes big, and then takes a step forward to hold her umbrella over Trixie’s head.

“What?”

“You’re cute,” Trixie says with a shrug. “And I like your… style, your vibe, I don’t know.” She chuckles and looks down at their feet, the girl’s big black boots with her skinny jeans tucked in them, and her own worn, brown cowboy boots under bleached, flared jeans.

“What’s your name?”

“Trixie.”

“I’m Katya. I think you’re absolutely wonderful,” she says. Her whole energy has changed, and she looks like she’s so excited she can barely stand still, lightly bouncing on her feet a little.

“Katya! Ok!” Trixie laughs out loud and pushes her wet hair away from her face. “Do you wanna get a drink? I live up here.” Trixie points at her building. Katya looks up and back to Trixie, contemplating for a moment, then nods.

“I hope you have hot chocolate,” Katya says. “I’ve been so cold all day.”

Trixie freezes for a moment and looks into Katya’s pretty blue eyes.

“It’s my favorite thing in the fall. Do you like mini marshmallows?”

“Yes!” Katya’s feet actually leave the ground at that as she makes a little jump with excitement.

They get on the elevator, and Trixie knows she’s dripping onto the floor, and Katya is fumbling with her bags.

“I’ve seen you around,” Katya says. Trixie can see she’s nervous, her eyes are shifting from Trixie’s eyes to her face, to the wall, to the floor. “I always hoped we’d get a chance to talk.”

They do talk, sitting on Trixie’s couch with their shoes off and a blanket over their legs. They drink hot chocolate with mini marshmallows and talk about work, life, music, and what to do on their first real date. 


End file.
